Belmadi puts an end to years of turbulence to lead Algeria to the final

After a hectic period during which Algeria employed seven coaches in three years, Djamel Belmadi took less than a year to restore order and turn a discouraged team into finalists for the Cup. Africa of Nations (AFCON).
Although he was coach only in Qatar before taking office, Belmadi pulled the "Desert Foxes" out of their rut and turned them into the most impressive team in the world. tournament with five wins and one draw, 12 goals scored and two conceded, on their way to Friday's final against Senegal. Belmadi has managed to bring out the best of a talented team and maintain a ruthless sequence, although there are still occasional excesses such as the extraordinary incident of Ramy Bensebaini's auto-slapping in the quarterfinals against the Ivory Coast.
Bensebaini grabbed Wilfried Zaha's arm, then slapped his face with the Ivorian's hand before falling dramatically to the floor, holding him by the head in an unsuccessful attempt to dismiss his opponent.
Belmadi, 43, was also able to lift the pressure on his best player Riyad Mahrez, allowing him to be a pivotal figure but without expecting him to lead the show. "I do not like to emphasize the players. We need to focus a bit less on Mahrez if we want to make this tournament a big tournament for us, "he said at the beginning.
Belmadi himself was a gifted midfielder, able to unlock the defenses through a decisive pbad, in a career that led him to play in 10 clubs in France, England and Qatar, including the United States. Olympique Marseille and Manchester City. He has also played 20 times for Algeria, scoring five goals.
Algeria's turmoil in recent years began after a CAN quarter-final exit against CAN in 2015, which drew criticism from coach Christian Gourcuff. The French clings another year and finally stop after a draw 3-3 against Ethiopia.
Nabil Neghiz came into play before leaving the reign to Milovan Rajevac, who lasted two games, after a 1-1 draw at home against Cameroon in the World Cup qualifiers.
Belgium's Georges Leekens was the next and lasted five games, including a 3-1 loss to Nigeria in another World Cup qualifier. Then came the Spanish Lucas Alvarez, who resigned after qualifying defeats against Zambia in the World Cup, which means that Algeria missed Russia.
At this point, the team was in such disarray that Mahrez was allowed to ignore the match against Zambia to negotiate a transfer. The federation then turned to Rabah Madjer, a well-known former player, but withdrew after four successive friendly defeats.
After considering Carlos Queiroz for the role, the Algerian federation turned to Belmadi, born in France. Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr, who faced Algeria in the World Cup qualifiers and the new Belmadi team in Sunday's semifinal, made an honest comparison.
"They were fragile (two years ago). There were a lot of individual mistakes, they made it easier for us, "he said. "Now they are strong, they have a good balance between attack and defense, they are still very physical and they have progressed a lot."
In Algeria, the only previous title of the CAN was won in 1990 by Belcadi. Belmadi told his players that they had the opportunity to do something that even Lakhdar Belloumi and Salah Assad, who helped to promote Algerian football in the 1980s, succeeded.
"These players are great players, they have marked the history of our football, but even these players did not win in 1990," he said. "It's our target, we want to write our story and the players want to write their story as well."